With just a little more than a week left before Titan’s first issue of Conan the Barbarian lays siege to comic stores, the publisher announced today in San Diego plans for another Conan title — Savage Sword of Conan.
Yes, Titan will revive the magazine-sized format title that Marvel published from 1974 through 1995. The black-and-white stories were “untethered from the bounds of the restrictive Comics Code Authority” at the time, according to Titan, and featured more adult-oriented stories about Conan by Roy Thomas, Neal Adams, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Walter Simonson and more.
“Ever since we announced the launch of this new comic book line, fans and creators alike have been clamoring for the return of this iconic title – ONLY if it was in its original B&W anthology magazine format,” said editor Matt Murray. “It’s been a really tough secret to keep that we at Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics have actually been planning on that all along, but it can be a tough skull to crack on a few levels. We hope that we can live up to the expectations, as well as the legacy of the classic book, and think that with the writers and artists we already have on board (and those we’re still talking to) we can forge a new and exciting chapter in Conan’s savage story.”
Here’s the teaser they released:
The new Savage Sword will include stories by John Arcudi, Frank Tieri, Patch Zircher, Howard Chaykin, Rafael Kayanan, Cary Nord, Rebeca Puebla, Dan Panosian, Richard Pace, Gerardo Zaffino and more.
Titan also revealed some sales numbers for the new Conan the Barbarian title by Jim Zub and Roberto De La Torre, saying that the first issue has exceeded 80,000 copies, with second and a probable third printing already being planned — which they speculate could take them over 100,000 copies. It’s the largest selling issue in the company’s history.
“We are so thrilled with the numbers on issue #1,” said Titan Publishing Director Ricky Claydon. “Our staff and partners at Heroic Signatures worked extremely hard to make the best Conan comic ever and I think we have achieved that. Jim (Zub)’s and Roberto (De La Torre)’s creation is barbarically perfect! This masterpiece combined with the unbelievable support of our distribution (Diamond Comics) and retail partners made this launch a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us.”
Titan Comics announced last year that they had picked up the Conan license from Heroic Signatures, the rights holder, after Marvel let the license go. Zub was one of the writers working on Marvel’s title before the license lapsed, and his work on the character has been generally well-regarded.